I'm not necessarily interested in joining the shrill chorus, or starting a debate among the Norli, regarding Samuel Alito's nomination, the partisan fight that will ensue, or, as Senator Kennedy will phrase it, the "potential for reversal of the Progress we have worked so hard to make these last 40 years." Neither will I take this opportunity to chant the Liturgy of Bush Administration Abuses and Incompetencies; it's a testament to the height of the sky that, after falling for five and a half years, it has yet to hit our heads.

However, the nomination does inspire some questions:

• Is the nomination of Samuel Alito a reactionary decision? I.E.: "You didn't like a nominee without a court record, eh? Well here's a nominee with an extensive court record. How'd y'all like that?"


• Compare and contrast Miers and Alito: what do their relative ideologies say about GWB's priorities in this nomination? Does it really boil down to abortion and the ten commandments, or is this, as some are calling it, an attempt to consolidate GWB's conservative base? If it's the latter, what is GW consolidating the base to do? If Alito is the means, then what is the end?


• Might an entrenched, ideological justice drive an intelligent, near-moderate justice closer to the middle? When too many people agree with me, I start to question my opinions.

Comments (2)

The story of the world's most valuable domain name may be coming to an end. Stephen Cohen, who stole the name from another guy, was arrested in Mexico and handed over to U.S. authorities last week. Give the link a click for the full flavor -- and yes, SFW.

The story goes back to 1994, the days when the Internet went from obscure government project to a part of the mass media, and amid a lack of rules that makes today's freewheeling web look like a product of Communist central planning. The victim ended up with no money and a house without doorknobs. He also got Sex.com back, but by then porn had long outraced the silly browser-client model.

You'd feel story for the guy, except he's a jerk.

Comments (0)

Meet Jimmy McMillan. Lovely friend and neighbor Sarah brought this special man into my life. See, the considerate political establishment here in Gotham sees fit to distribute a campaign guide in the weeks before a local election. I ignore it. Sarah does not. Sarah doesn't miss the good things.

This year's guide goes through the candidates: Essentially, Bloomberg and the roadkill in Bloomberg's mayoral path, plus candidantes for other offices. You'd think the most compelling of this motley bunch would be Bernard Goetz, running for public advocate, who wants to put Donald Trump in charge of rebuilding the World Trade Center and, according to the guide, wants "experimental programs with power naps for city workers." But you'd be wrong.

Jimmy McMillan leads the "Rent is Too Damn High Party." Visit the web site, and be sure to turn up the volume. Here's how he answered the New York City Campaign Finance Board questionaire, unedited:

1. What is the most important issue in the city you would address if elected? RENT is Too Damn High there is nothing else to talk about. All poor people are being ran out of New York.

2. What other important issues would you address if elected? RENT is Too Damn High there is nothing else to talk about.

He describes himself as a rent activist and private investigator. He's also a Vietnam veteran and martial arts expert. He's been endorsed by the Dance Liberation Front. He offers the services of the Rent Ladies. His web site says: "We apologized for the BAD, Grammar, Spelling, and anything you might find wrong with this web Site. We Deeply apologize. But 'RENT' is Still Too Damn High."

I love this city. Every goddamn inch of it.

Comments (0)

It started with a perhaps overly, uh, flamboyant, folding of the restaurant receipt. Apparently, I should have crumpled it up and burned it or thrown it down my pants or something. Mrs. Soul informed me after dinner yesterday that I only do one manly thing, and she hasn't seen me even do that for awhile. After pressing for what that one thing could be, it turns out to be shopping-related. This is not a good sign. I'm looking to pick up some mannish habits and I'm open to suggestions. By the way, I'm sure this has nothing to do with living exclusively with a girl for the last 6 years...

Comments (6)

BoingBoing outpoints the latest sound to hit the airwaves: "Drop It Like a FOB" from Anoop Dogg. FOB meaning fresh off the boat. The lyrics go like this:

I am a nice FOB, I work in the IT, When you call tech support, You will get me.

I am a bachelor,
And I work hard,
Come and marry me
So I can get the green card.

White people, they can’t understand me,
Their jobs are now in New Delhi.

This comes after earlier finding Snoopinder and PharrellJeet's "Cook It Like It's Chat," as well as the other song on the link, "Welcome to India."

So what can we conclude from this, besides that anybody can copy "Drop It Like It's Hot"? Is it that rap is the most insidiously addictive part of American culture because it's so accessible and easy to do? Or that it's just the easiest to mock? And is there something to Asians -- stereotyped as weak and ineffectual -- poking fun at the gangsta attitude?

Or am I making way too much of it?

Comments (2)

A little sad news first: late last week, Elinor and I put our dog Ollie down. His fear aggression was getting worse, not better. He was terrified and we were miserable, and he was in a bad enough state that we couldn't in good conscience give him to anyone else instead.

Some good news next: having plenty of room for a couple of dogs at our place, we were able to rescue another dog from the local animal shelter. We've named her Petunia, and she's exceedingly calm, nice, and happy. We've taken several pictures in case you're curious.

We're told that she's likely a mix between a golden retriever and a cocker spaniel. So, yesterday, I was saying to Elinor, "Um... retriever and a cocker spaniel. Er... how exactly would that work." Well, just today Elinor was reading Fark and came across a pertinent and illustrative picture. Still cracks me up whenever I look at it.

Oh, and by the way, Mr Guapo: Check the title of this post. Now check the logs on Norlos to see what kind of whacked out psychos are linking here. You're welcome.

Comments (3)

Not to be outdone by Mr. Guapo's shameless name-dropping and tart picture-posting, I too have been a man about town, so to speak. First, let me point out that I've been doing a lot of driving in the past few days, leaving a goodly amount of time to think and browse the radio dial. Some questions to ponder:

Led Zeppelin + blues music = girly British man warbling about soulless women and hedgerows. Good thing? Discuss. I used to think yes, but now, I'm not so sure.

Hot For Teacher by Van Halen: best rock song of 1983? Yes, I think so.

Also: Simon LeBon from Duran Duran is 47. Reflect for a moment.

People here in left-wing town often ask me, "Doubleoh, you're from 'The Heartland'. What's wrong with those people? Explain red states to us." And I say, first off, don't call it 'The Heartland' unless you're doing a Chevy commercial. Then I proceed to explain that the whole red-blue thing is unhelpful at best, and point out that they seem to have missed the fact that the safely liberal-minded Soul family harkens back to somewhere between the Cascade mountains and, say, New Jersey. That being roughly the boundaries defining "Heartland" for left-coasters. But now, I can add that these big-city liberals have no further to go than a short spell down I-5 to find the answer to all their questions: Roseburg, Oregon, where I've spent the last three days. So, what is happening in the red states these days, you ask?

Well, at the Rodeo steakhouse and grill, it's peanut shells on the floor and contemporary country music on the radio. First a slow twangy ballad about how much more living I would get done if I thought every day was my last. Then a slow twangy ballad about how I've lived my first 30 years acting like every day was my last, and that the next 30 years will be better because I'll plan ahead a little more. Then, a blue-grassy jam comes on. Don't pay much attention until I realize they're singing about how they love the ho's but then they out tha door...with my mind on my money and my money on my mind. It's a cover of Gin and Juice replete with mandolin solo. (Apparently well-known and available for download. This site requires Yahoo registration, but I'm sure there are others out there.) Then back to another twangy ballad about some life lessons learned shit. Nobody batted an eye. They didn't even seem to notice. I asked the waitress if she knew who it was. She said she just tuned it out and didn't follow country music anyway.

At Charley's BBQ, it's homemade sauce (low carb options available), cornbread hushpuppies, and "scriptures of the week" on the whiteboard. It was a psalm.

At the Best Western it's a free "continental" breakfast bar that includes all-you-can-eat self-serve belgian waffles and biscuits and gravy. And the gravy has sausage in it, like it's supposed to. I've had my heart broken too many times by fancy city breakfasts with some odd gravy that just ain't right.

At the Country Pride truck stop, it's the 18-Wheeler special of steak and eggs, 24 hours a day (low carb options available). While you wait for your food, there's a pamphlet called "Remember when? 1965". The inscription in the front said, "The key to a good life is remembering the good times and good people that were a part of it." It had been vandalized to read, "The key to a good life is the [sic] Jesus Christ." There's also my new favorite trade rag on the table. It's called Road King. I recommend reading about Rebel Stroman of One Leg Trucking. The man lost the same leg two times!

At Los Amigos, it's chorizo burritos served in approximately 45 seconds and a hearty "Hola Amigos!"

It's country music, oldies, or heavy metal on the radio. And people who are friendly and call me Hon while they tell me the ATM machine doesn't work.

And what was I doing in Roseburg? Let's just say that few things have given me a greater sense of power than being the sole reason for an interstate lane closure that resulted in a traffic jam. I don't know why they don't put that in the career brochure. It almost makes up for the countless times I spent staring at the car in front of me, not knowing why we were stopped or how long we'd be stuck. Don't worry, everybody. I'm a professional.

Comments (1)

The Center for North American Herpatology not only fills my inbox with e-mails that I rarely read, it puts catchy subject lines on them.

Frog Secretions Block HIV Infections

Leigh MacMillan

A new weapon in the battle against HIV may come from an unusual source –- tropical frogs. Investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered that compounds secreted by frog skin are potent blockers of HIV infection.

The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Virology, could lead to topical treatments for preventing HIV transmission and reinforce the value of preserving the Earth’s biodiversity.

"We need to protect these species long enough for us to understand their medicinal cabinet," says Louise A. Rollins-Smith, associate professor of microbiology & immunology, who has been studying the antimicrobial defenses of frogs for about six years. Frogs, she explains, have specialized granular glands in the skin that produce and store packets of peptides, small protein-like molecules. In response to skin injury or alarm, the frog secretes large amounts of these antimicrobial peptides onto the surface of the skin to combat pathogens like bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Rollins-Smith happens to have the laboratory next door to Derya Unutmaz, associate professor of microbiology and immunology. During a hallway chat one day, the two decided it would be interesting to investigate whether any frog peptides have activity against human viruses, specifically HIV, the focus of Unutmaz’s group.

Postdoctoral fellow Scott E. VanCompernolle screened 15 antimicrobial peptides from a variety of frog species for their ability to block HIV infection of T cells, immune system cells targeted by HIV. He found several that inhibited HIV infection without harming the T cells. The Australian Red-eyed Treefrog, Litoria chloris, had the highest levels of peptides that block HIV infection of all species that the researchers tested. The peptides appear to selectively kill the virus, perhaps by inserting themselves into the HIV outer membrane envelope and creating "holes" that cause the virus particle to fall apart, Unutmaz said.

"We like to call these peptides WMDs – weapons of membrane destruction," Unutmaz quips. It is curious that the antimicrobial peptides do not harm the T cells at concentrations that are effective against the virus, he notes, since HIV’s outer membrane is derived from, and therefore essentially identical to, the cellular membrane. The investigators have proposed that the peptides act selectively on the virus in part because of its small size relative to cells.

The ability of the peptides to destroy HIV was enticing, but to be really effective as antimicrobial agents, they need to prevent transmission of HIV from dendritic cells to T cells, Unutmaz said. Dendritic cells, he explains, are the sentinels of the immune system. They hang out in the mucus-generating surface tissues, scanning for invading pathogens. "Their purpose in life is to capture the enemy, bring it to the lymph node – the command center – and present it to the general, the T cell, to activate a battle plan," Unutmaz says. "It’s a very efficient system that has allowed us to survive many insults, pathogens, and viruses."

But HIV is a wily foe. When it is picked up at the mucosal surface by a sentinel dendritic cell, it somehow evades destruction. Instead, it hides inside the cell, waiting to invade the T cell with a Trojan Horse-like mechanism. The ability of HIV to remain hidden in the dendritic cell, avoiding destruction by circulating antibodies and immune system cells, "may explain why after 20 years we don’t have a vaccine for this virus," Unutmaz says.

To test the effectiveness of the frog peptides in preventing HIV transmission, VanCompernolle first allowed cultured dendritic cells to capture active HIV. He then incubated the HIV-harboring dendritic cells with antimicrobial peptides, washed the peptides away, and added T cells. "Normally the dendritic cell passes the virus to the T cell, and we get very efficient infection of the T cell," Unutmaz says. "But when we treated the dendritic cells with peptides, the virus was gone, completely gone. This was a great surprise."

The finding was puzzling, he explains, since the prevailing notion is that HIV captured by dendritic cells is hidden and protected. The investigators currently are using imaging technologies to test the hypothesis that HIV is actually cycling to the dendritic cell surface. "We think maybe it’s popping its head out, looking around for a T cell, and then going back inside to hide until it cycles out again," Unutmaz said. If peptide is present outside the cell, "it targets the virus that pops up and kills it." Preliminary experiments suggest that the hypothesis is correct. "This is very exciting, as it suggests that these peptides could be very effective since the virus now has nowhere to hide," Unutmaz says. "And if this cycling is really happening, we may be able to generate a vaccine that will target virus captured by dendritic cells."

The frog peptides are an exceptional tool for probing "what the virus knows about the dendritic cell that we don’t know," Unutmaz added. "How does HIV manage to survive and cycle back and forth to the cell membrane? If we can understand that, we’ll find the gaps, and that will open a whole new universe of targets for intervention."

The investigators learned this week that the American Foundation for AIDS Research will fund their continuing quest to understand how the frog peptides kill HIV in dendritic cells. Their plans include imaging how the peptides work, screening additional frog peptides for activity, and testing peptides on a mucosal cell system to study the feasibility of developing them as prophylactics against HIV infection.

"If we are able to learn the mechanisms these peptides are using to kill HIV, it might be possible to make small chemical molecules that achieve the same results," Unutmaz says. Such chemicals would be more practical as therapeutic microbicides.

"This study is a great example of how collaboration across disciplines leads to big discoveries," Unutmaz says. Other members of the department of microbiology and immunology assisted the investigators by providing viruses for testing. The team found that membrane-coated viruses were susceptible to destruction by the frog peptides, but non-coated viruses, such as reovirus and adenovirus, were not affected.

R. Jeffery Taylor, Kyra Oswald-Richter, Jiyang Jiang, Bryan E Youree, Christopher R. Aiken and Terence S. Dermody at Vanderbilt are co-authors of the study. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Elizabeth B. Lamb Center for Pediatric Research, and the National Science Foundation.

Comments (0)

(Photo courtesy Gridskipper)

Dr. No and I don't often get either the chance or the inclination to sneak behind a velvet rope. So when David Blend of the man site Thrillist.com invited us to the venture's launch party, how could we say no?

I went straight from work. Dr. No and I were indeed on the list, thankyouverymuch. The velvet rope lifted and we were up the stairs just in time to see a guy bump into the waitress at the door holding a tray of shots, sending free booze splashing. At the center of the party stood the silver woman above. Also at the party: a beer fountain and Lizzie Grubman, who gained fame in pre-9/11 days for running her SUV into a bunch of haughty Hamptonites. Blend said Mar Gastineau was there, too, but I can't verify that because don't know what Gastineau looks like and Blend lies a lot.

Inititally, we thought the party too loud and garish. The free bar soon put us into the swing of things.

Read Gridskipper's take.

Comments (5)

Here's a post to keep Hellx up on hometown news.

Comments (0)

Old Tom was given the unfortunate news a few weeks ago that he is allergic to beer or some ingredient in beer.
"My nose would get really stuffy and after a few drinks it would sometimes get hard to breathe," he said. "I noticed this started to happen when I would drink the really fancy beers so I thought that I should go back to my roots and drink schlitz and blatz."
This worked for awhile but eventually he had to revert to cheaper and cheaper beers. Finally all beer became taboo. He went to the doctor who gave him the unfortunate news. The doctor's assistant hid laughter. Laughter born from the fact that a little innocent Irishman could no longer drink.
"My mother started to cry when I told her," said Tom.
"You'll be a better man because of this," the doctor said and ended with the standard "take courage" speech.

After punching the doctor's assistant Old Tom left the doctor's office with his list of things he could no longer drink and a heart that seemed to feel heavier in his manly chest...

"I guess its back to whiskey."

Comments (0)

It's been commonly written that disappearing in this country has become much more difficult. Security camera watch building entrances and fast-food counters. Shared databases are increasingly common. IDs are harder to fake. And if you pay for something with a credit card, forget about it.

That's why The Skeptic Tank's guide to a seamless disappearance serves such a necessary purpose. (Props to The Morning News for outpointing.) Here's my favorite part:

If you're on an airplane, don't toss anything down the toilet as it goes to a holding tank which can be raked for evidence later. Carry-out your wiping papers with you inside your shirt under an armpit and flush them in a normal toilet when you can. (Note: Visible bulges under your shirt will be considered by flight attending employees to be indicating the real possibility that you're smuggling drugs. If you must hide a lot of wipe materials, you should distribute them among your body to eliminate bulges, otherwise you may be escorted to a little white room and made to strip. When they find you're hiding damp paper towels, you'll have some explaining to do.

Comments (5)

Star Wars Day Press Conference

Who: Star Wars' Darth Vader & assembled Storm Troopers
Cristyne Nicholas, President and CEO of NYC & Co, the city's
Convention and Tourism Bureau
Bart Catalane, President and COO, Ziff Davis

When: 10:00 a.m. Press Conference on Thursday, October 13
to launch the new Star Wars video game "Battlefront 2".

Where: Times Square Visitors Center
1560 Broadway
Between 46th and 47th streets (across street from TKTS booth)
Immediately following the press conference, reporters are
invited back to the Jacob K. Javits Center for a preview of
Battlefront II and other games and gadgets.

Contact: Colin Miner at 917-528-9297 or Annie Scully at 845-368-0608
What: The empire will strike back in Times Square tomorrow morning
(proclaimed "Star Wars Day" by Mayor Bloomberg) when Darth Vader
and more than 50 Storm troopers from the elite 501st Legion will
arrive to herald the launch of Star Wars Battlefront(TM) 2, the
LucasArts sequel to the most popular Star Wars video game in
history. (Trailer will be shown)

About DigitalLife:
From October 14-16, 2005, New York City's Javits Center will be transformed into a digital playground. DigitalLife will open its doors and begin a 3-day, non-stop celebration of digital technology and culture for the buyers that matter most at the most critical time of the year. SOURCE Ziff Davis Media

Comments (0)

I was talking to my ex-roommate Becky last night when she mentioned that she had just read Sarah and loved it. I thought she meant Sarah and immediately asked her, "who do you think JT LeRoy is?"

I hadn't thought of JT LeRoy in years before last night, but today, when I was checking out TMN, I noticed a link to a New York Magazine article titled "Who is the Real JT LeRoy?" According to Stephen Beachy, Mr. Guapo's assertion (that I could have sworn he made on Norlos, but that he may have made in an e-mail) that JT LeRoy is Dave Eggers is wrong.

The photo at the top of this post is what you get when you search for the image "jt leroy is dave eggers".

Comments (2)

"Americans Overwhelmingly Favor Interracial Dating"

I think a better way to phrase this, and the way it is phrased in the poll, is that American's support interracial dating. Using the word favor implies to me that, if given a choice between dating someone of one's own race or someone of a different race, Americans will overwhelmingly choose to date the person of the different race.

Comments (0)

As I age, my capacity to produce coherent prose diminishes in inverse proportion to my ability to generate obtuse, poetic* iconography.

*Note the description below the image.

Comments (5)

As I look at job possibilties for the future, Slug immediately comes up with the full scenarios of our lives in any given situation ("our car won't pass emissions if we move to Orange County" or "if we move to Denver we'll need to spend the summer in Central America next year"). So, while I am pondering what sort of fabulous project to propose to get me a postdoc at the Earth Institute at Columbia, Slug is contemplating, "If we were in New York City, where would we live?" We thought we'd ask the local experts.

Comments (9)

What's up with pythons in the news? In the latest to hit the airwaves, a python swallows a Siamese cat.

Maybe Dr. No and I can invite a python over to meet our cat Eraserhead...

Comments (1)

Glad you asked. Kumar Pallana, America's favorite Ed Sullivan alumnus and frequent object of Norlos scrutiny, stars in a new video for the Deathray Davies. Check it out.

Comments (0)

I'm the only member of my immediate family and half of my extended family on one side to have not lived in a mobile home as an adult. Yet.

Comments (1)

Since Elinor's now doing some work that requires her to log her hours working at home, and since I'm getting ready to start doing some independent web design/programming work, I've made a little online utility site to help keep track of time. Thought I'd post it here in case any of you might have a use for such a thing.

Project Timer

The interface is spartan, as are most of my utility sites, and not overly packed with fancy features. Still, it should be sufficient for basic needs. I have a couple of minor upgrades in mind already, but if anyone has any suggestions for improvements, feel free to pass them on.

Comments (3)

There's been yet another python vs. alligator battle in Florida. The python won this one, although it was a Pyrrhic victory.

Comments (0)

As of November 11, 2005, I will no longer be an employee of the State of Wisconsin. My last day in the office, however, will be October 14, 2005.

Comments (8)

The Bravo series "Great Things About Being..." proclaims that the eighteenth best thing about being in a red state are Waffle Houses.

Comments (1)

Astronomers discover that Xena has a dim little moon named Gabrielle.

Comments (1)